Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerJacob Josefson entered the game with goals in his last two matches.

OTTAWA —

The Devils faced the Ottawa Senators tonight at Scotiabank Place.

Martin Brodeur was in goal for the Devils against Curtis McElhinney.

Forward Rod Pelley and defenseman Mark Fraser were Devils scratches.

THIRD PERIOD

McElhinney made back-to-back saves on Travis Zajac and Nick Palmieri 22 seconds into the period.

Erik Karlsson's shot 55 seconds in was deflected into the air by Chris Neil. The big winger then tried to bat it out of the air, but missed as the puck went into the net.

A video review upheld the call on the ice and the Senators had a 2-0 lead.

The Devils appeared to get the goal back within seconds when Colin White's shot from the left point beat McElhinney at 1:27. However, the goal was disallowed because Adam Mair interfered with the Ottawa goalie.

Brian Rolston's power play goal at 5:02 on a slap shot cut the deficit on half. It was his 13th goal of the season. It came with Colin Greening in the box for hooking.

Ilya Kovalchuk took a penalty for goalie interference at 11:13 as the Devils put some pressure on McElhinney.

Kovalchuk had a breakaway at 13:35 but was stopped from between the hash marks by McElhinney.

With 2:50 left, Brodeur came out to force Marek Svatos to shoot over the net.

SECOND PERIOD

With just under 14 minutes left, Jason Spezza had a scoring chance from the slot but pulled his shot wide as Brodeur came out from his crease.

Nick Foligno and Zack Smith had an odd-man rush at 8:32, but Smith was unable to get a shot away as Nick Palmieri broke it up with his backchecking.

Brodeur gloved a left circle shot from Ottawa's Marek Svatos at 10:02.

Erik Karlsson was in the penalty box for hooking Patrik Elias when McElhinney gloved a Mark Fayne shot at 11:55.

McElhinney made a save on a Dainius Zubrus shot from above the slot with the Devils on the power play at 17:31.

With seven seconds remaining on the penalty to Ottawa's Zack Smith, the Sens had a two-on-one shorthanded break. Brodeur made a stick save on Erik Karlsson's shot with 1:33 left.

FIRST PERIOD

The Devils started a line of Ilya Kovalchuk, Travis Zajac and Nick Palmieri with Anssi Salmela and Andy Greene on defense. Zajac played in his 389th consecutive game, breaking the Devils record held by Ken Daneyko.

Former Devils defenseman David Hale, recalled today from Binghamton (AHL) by the Senators, is in the Ottawa lineup.

Brodeur deflected a Colin Greening shot with 16:01 left in the period.

McElhinney made a save on Mark Fayne's shot from the right point at 11:37. Kovalchuk's chance on the rebound was blocked.

With 5:23 left, Patrik Elias and Palmieri collided near the neutral zone. Elias went down but neither player was hurt.

Elias was sent off at 16:58 for high-sticking. When Anton Volchenkov knocked the net loose while defending a right circle shot from Ryan Shannon on the line at the right post, it gave the Senators a two-man power play advantage for 49 seconds.

The Devils killed off the Elias penalty but there was 1:06 remaining in Volchenkov's delay of game penalty when Ottawa scored on the power play. Jason Spezza's shot was tipped in by Shannon from in front of the crease with 57.8 seconds remaining in the period.

Shots were 10-9 in favor of the Devils.

End of period: Senators 1, Devils 0

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The Devils return home to face the Washington Capitals on Friday night at the Prudential Center.

It will be Retro Jersey Night in which the Devils wear their original colors, as well as David Steckel's first game against his former club. The Devils acquired Steckel from the Caps in the Feb. 28 trade for Jason Arnott.